Best Week Ever! Julio, after talking with Obama at town hall meeting

Naples Daily News reporter Elysa Batista sits down with Julio Osegueda to find out what life has been like after his moment with President Obama

Produced by Manuel Martinez

FORT MYERS - Call it a case of faith restored.

At least, that's how Julio Osegueda sees the turn his life has taken and his 15 minutes of fame.

The 19-year-old Cape Coral resident caught the nation's attention when he ended President Barack Obama's visit Tuesday with an enthusiastically charged question about his job prospects.

The response he got from the Commander in Chief was just what Osegueda said he needed to hear.

"I felt like I have never felt before. I felt motivated to continue to reach for success," Osegueda said in an interview Friday. "It's around the corner. I just have to not quit and keep trying."

However, attending the town hall meeting and getting to ask the president a question was just the beginning of the adventure for the exuberant Edison State College student.

"Before I could get to the end of the row where I was sitting, all these microphones start coming out," Osegueda said, while he described trying to leave the town hall meeting. "All these people started asking me questions."

Between print and television reporters, Osegueda said he didn't get to leave the frenzy until nearly 6 p.m. — 12 hours after he arrived for the event.

"It was pretty crazy," said Osegueda, who has appeared on almost every local television channel and was a guest on CNN, MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann and CBS' The Early Show.

The media exposure also led to Osegueda being recognized — even at Wal-Mart.

"This older guy comes up to me and he was like ‘Hey young man, I saw you talking to President Obama. Are you Julio?'" Osegueda said. "I was like ‘Yup,' and he said ‘Congratulations.'"

But all the media attention also has had its drawbacks, he admitted.

In the days following the event, two Arizona-based radio stations called Osegueda.

The first, Phoenix's KNIX, had a President Barack Obama impersonator call Osegueda to re-create the excitement he showed Tuesday.

He wasn't amused.

"I don't know what was on their mind at the time," Osegueda said. "It was messed up."

He said he only realized the interview wasn't for real near the end, when the impersonator said something akin to "It's all good in the hood, brother."

"That is not President Barack Obama," Osegueda said. "He does not talk in that kind of slang."

The call from the second Arizona-based station was from a conservative talk radio show, which called to ask why Osegueda was such an ardent supporter of President Obama.

The New York native said he was more prepared the second time and wasn't baited into a rant.

Through it all, Osegueda said his family is helping to keep him grounded.

"For 15 minutes of fame, this is an unbelievable roller-coaster for the kid," said Marvin Wood, 53, Julio's father.

Wood said the attention was unexpected, but the family is taking things in stride.

"There are so many things that have been going on … I just hope he can handle it," said Wood, who described his son as a good Christian kid with a passion for life.

Wood said he hopes his son takes away the right lessons from the situation, and is one day able to look back and say that the town hall meeting changed his life.

"That would be great," he said.

For his part, Osegueda said he too has a positive outlook on where his life will go after Tuesday's event.

According to Osegueda, it wasn't until after several drive-thru customers at the Cape Coral McDonald's he works at told him that he had a voice suited for broadcasting that he actually started to consider it as a major.

"I thought, ‘I might pursue this career,'" Osegueda said.

His passion and dedication for the field is something that even carries over to a Saturday morning journalism class, Edison district director of marketing and communications Catherine Bergerson said.

"He's a great example of a hard-working person," said Bergerson, who was impressed with Osegueda when she recently was a guest lecturer in one of his classes.

And since making it on to the national scene Tuesday, the Edison sophomore's charisma has helped him garner numerous radio internship offers and a special one-time broadcasting gig. That offer came from the Fort Myers Miracle baseball team, which offered Osegueda the opportunity to broadcast the first home opening game for the season on April 10.